A Cabinet row is brewing over plans to allow cheap American food into the UK as part of a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is pushing for agriculture to be included in discussions about a free trade deal with the US, which could be struck within months of Britain leaving the EU.

Dr Fox, who is backed by Boris Johnson, has told ministers that the move could slash food prices for British consumers and encourage Washington to agree a ‘comprehensive’ free trade deal that would be worth billions to the British economy.

But Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom is opposed to the move, warning it could damage British farming and end restrictions on controversial US products such as hormone-fed beef, chlorine-washed chicken and genetically modified crops.

One source familiar with the discussions said Mrs Leadsom feared the watering down of British food standards to cater for American produce risked angering consumers and damaging perceptions of Brexit.

There are also concerns about the impact on British agriculture, which would face the twin threat of competition from super-sized US farms together with the potential loss of EU markets if British standards are lowered.

‘Liam’s view is that this stuff is legal and that the Americans have been eating it perfectly safely for years,’ the source said. ‘He believes free trade is the key to Britain’s future and it is hard to see how the US is going to sign up quickly to a meaningful trade deal that doesn’t include agriculture.

‘Andrea thinks that consumers rightly value the high food standards we have in this country and would not understand why we were lowering them.

‘There are also serious concerns about the consequences for British farmers. It isn’t just about having to compete with US farmers who use techniques that are now allowed here. If we decide to lower out standards in order to compete then we will lose our main export market as the rest of the EU will no longer accept our produce.’

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Boris Johnson has also spoken out in favour of including farming in a trade deal with the US, arguing that it could help end the long-running ban on British beef products imposed during the BSE crisis in the 1990s.

During a recent debate he told MPs a free trade deal with the US would be of ‘profound benefit to the whole of the United Kingdom’, adding: ‘MPs may not know this, but at the moment the United States still has an embargo not only on British beef but on Scottish haggis. I do not know whether members of the Scottish parties agree with that, but there is no way of liberating the haggis to travel across the Atlantic again unless we do a free trade deal with the United States.’

The US has made it clear that it expects agriculture to be included in any trade talks. Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said free access for food products would be a ‘top priority’ for the US administration.

American food producers ‘wash’ butchered chickens in strongly chlorinated water to reduce the risk of bacteria, a practice banned in the EU

Brexit gives ministers the chance to shape new farming policies and standards which have previously been set by Brussels.

Hormone-fed beef is currently banned because the European Food Safety Authority says there is insufficient data to assess potential risks to human health.

American food producers also ‘wash’ butchered chickens in strongly chlorinated water to reduce the risk of bacteria – a practice that is currently banned by the EU.

The sale of GM food, which is standard in the US, is not illegal in Europe. But under EU labelling laws it has to be clearly marked, with the result that little GM food is currently sold in the UK. Repealing these laws would be controversial but could lead to a big increase in the market for GM crops.

But a Tory source warned that any bid to tear up food standards to appease the US would breach the party’s 2015 manifesto, which pledged to ‘uphold the highest standards of animal welfare’.

The document also committed the Tories to ‘push for high animal welfare standards to be incorporated into international trade agreements’.